Acacia King Posted September 10, 2012 Found this website that lets you determine if the seeds of plant a material you want to import is restricted by Australian Quarantine. You just type in the genus and it lists which species are legal. http://www.aqis.gov.au/icon32/asp/ex_querycontent.asp. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stillman Posted September 10, 2012 Note it can be changed with out warning at any time. I love those guys. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
whitewind Posted September 10, 2012 Some of the listings are a bit unexpected too, so worth checking if you want to import something funky and cool. Once your name is on their list they check pretty much everything sent from overseas, so I have heard, otherwise about 1 in 4 packages get opened randomly. Unfortunately a lot of what I want to import hasn't yet made the list, which means it's an automatic no-no without getting explicit approval. Mind you, a lot of the stuff I imported years ago with express permission subsequently underwent a weed risk assessment or something and got banned - alright if you are first in but no good if your first batch doesn't work! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shortly Posted September 10, 2012 And watch out that just because aqis says you can import something doesn't automatically mean that it is ok with customs 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WoodDragon Posted September 10, 2012 I've had stuff on the approved schedule held and destroyed by Customs. They can be totally arbitrary in their decisions, so beware. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dizzyanarchist Posted September 10, 2012 my mates beetle nuts got tampered with and i had another mate whos had mxe held and destroyed and i know mxe can be imported the cops tryed to get me on trafficking the stuff thinking it was a big wad of powdered meth at the start couldn't even disqualify my license over being on it while driving Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shortly Posted September 10, 2012 I've had stuff on the approved schedule held and destroyed by Customs. They can be totally arbitrary in their decisions, so beware. The only consistency with customs & aqis is the inconsistency. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stillman Posted September 10, 2012 They stole my tomatillos and I will never forgive them... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
whitewind Posted September 10, 2012 ^^^ Even importing plants the right way encounters this problem, in that they looked after them for 3 months and killed about 2/3 of my carefully sourced live plants that would have made me a fortune LOL and then subsequently decided that most of them were worthy of weed status (despite much evidence to the contrary, i.e. extremely rare flowering and inability to survive drought). They are a bit short-staffed and liable to err on the side of "caution" to try and cover themselves, but quite honestly the system doesn't work and pathogens get in all the time, we are better off trying to educate people and get them to behave responsibly by themselves I reckon. Otherwise they put all their imagination into bypassing the system thus never being effective, criminalising people and causing trade problems. Similar to the war on drugs, really ;) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
planthelper Posted September 12, 2012 be friends with a diplomat, hehehe. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
